The Dancin' Bulldogs

The Dancin' Bulldogs: A 16 Seed's Journey to the NCAA Tournament is a 2020 American feature-length sports documentary directed, written, and produced by Christian Jessup with co-writing by Thomas Manning and Eli Hardin as well as co-production by Manning and Brendan Boylan.[1] The documentary depicts the Gardner-Webb Men's Basketball 2018–2019 season in which they won the Big South Tournament and earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Dancin' Bulldogs
Official Movie Poster
Directed byChristian Jessup
Produced byChristian Jessup
Thomas Manning
Brendan Boylan
Written byChristian Jessup
Thomas Manning
Eli Hardin
Music byChristian Jessup
Distributed byYouTube
Release date
October 16, 2020
Running time
75 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$500

The film was created by a group of Gardner-Webb Alumni with various backgrounds including film production, music composition, and sports broadcasting. The Dancin' Bulldogs is set for release on YouTube on October 16, 2020.[2]

Subject matter

Despite moving from NCAA Division II to NCAA Division I in 2002 the Gardner-Webb Men's Basketball Team had never won their conference tournament or played in the NCAA Tournament prior to the 2018–2019 season. During the 2018–2019 season, the team won the conference tournament and earned a spot in that year's NCAA Tournament as a 16 seed where they faced first seed Virginia. The documentary takes viewers through that season, starting with preseason activities and ending with the NCAA Tournament, where Gardner-Webb had a halftime lead over Virginia. The film not only highlights the ups and down of Gardner-Webb's season but also focuses on what it means for a school to earn a 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The film includes game and behind-the-scenes footage, as well as never-before-seen interviews with players, coaches, students, and the press. Some notable interviewees are: head coach Tim Craft; former head coach and current Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann; Virginia assistant coach Jason Williford; and former star player Jerome Hill. Also featured in the film are Greg Gumbel, Marty Smith, Jim Nantz, and Artis Gilmore.

Production

Production of the film began in May 2020 and was the idea of 2018 Gardner-Webb alum Christian Jessup. Jessup, was a music composition and film studies major at Gardner-Webb, and works for a Raleigh, North Carolina marketing firm where he focuses on music composition.[3] He recruited current Gardner-Webb student Thomas Manning (class of 2022), a communications and journalism major, to assist with writing and production. Jessup also recruited fellow class of 2018 alum Eli Hardin, a student at Wake Forest University School of Law for writing and film research. Additionally, Brendan Boylan, a writer for Sports Illustrated and a 2018 Gardner-Webb Graduate, was brought on board in July 2020, alongside his production company, Bottom of the Mug Productions.

The film was announced on July 9, 2020, and the first trailer debuted on July 10, 2020.[4] Production of the film has progressed steadily through the summer of 2020 and a release date of October 16, 2020 was announced on July 31, 2020.

Release

The film will be released via the online streaming platform YouTube free of charge on October 16, 2020.

Reception

Initial reaction to the announcement of the film has been positive with comments from players, coaches, fans, and journalists praising the idea of the film and expressing anticipation for its release. Views of the trailer were over 6,000 by July 11[5] and at 9,500 by the end of the month with the views of other clips also in the thousands. Additionally, social media accounts had amassed over 500 combined followers by the end of July. Brain Wilmer, a writer with Medium and NCAA Hoops Digest stated "I have covered hundreds and hundreds of basketball games. This documentary will tell the story of one of the greatest seasons I've ever witnessed. I can't wait to see it."[6][7] Head coach Tim Craft tweeted "cant wait to relive these memories"[8] and Gardner-Webb President William Downs also stated "can’t wait to see this come out!"[9]

gollark: You'll be able to directly run signed code from pastebin or something.
gollark: I am in fact planning to drop the first requirement at some point and launch "PotatOS Privileged Execution".
gollark: If you want it to run out of sandbox, it has to:- actually be on a disk- be cryptographically signed
gollark: It just kills the user sandbox processes.
gollark: That is not what that means.

References
  1. "THE DANCIN' BULLDOGS". THE DANCIN' BULLDOGS. Retrieved 2020-08-03.
  2. "Watch". THE DANCIN' BULLDOGS. Retrieved 2020-08-03.
  3. "Christian Jessup". VisionPoint Marketing. Retrieved 2020-08-03.
  4. "The Dancin' Bulldogs Documentary". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2020-08-03.
  5. "https://twitter.com/bulldogsdancin/status/1282043552957161473". Twitter. Retrieved 2020-08-04. External link in |title= (help)
  6. "https://twitter.com/sportsmatters/status/1283240692534390789". Twitter. Retrieved 2020-08-03. External link in |title= (help)
  7. "Articles by Brian Wilmer | Freelance Journalist | Muck Rack". muckrack.com. Retrieved 2020-08-03.
  8. "https://twitter.com/coachtimcraft/status/1289356907824549889". Twitter. Retrieved 2020-08-03. External link in |title= (help)
  9. "https://twitter.com/gardnerwebbpres/status/1281705568307220487". Twitter. Retrieved 2020-08-04. External link in |title= (help)
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